Experimental Measurement of Heat Transfer to a Cylinder Immersed in a Large Aviation-Fuel Fire

Presented are the results of an experimental effort to quantify some of the heat transfer parameters pertaining to the luminous flame that results from the uncontrolled combustion of an 8-ft × 16-ft pool of JP-5 aviation fuel. The temperature and effective total radiant heat flux, both as temporal mean quantities, were measured as functions of position within the quasi-steady burning flame as it existed in a quiescent atmosphere. A grid of infrared radiometers and radiation-shielded thermocouples served as the primary sensing equipment. A determination was made of the perimeter-mean convection coefficient applicable to a horizontally oriented, smooth, 8.530-in-dia circular cylinder immersed at a particular location within the JP-5 flame. The value of this coefficient was the result of a solution to a nonlinear, inverse conduction problem in which the convective heat flux at the cylinder surface was estimated by utilizing a measured temperature history inside the cylinder. An expression relating this coefficient to more general flame/cylinder systems was developed.